SUSU hands Hockey Club £500 fine and alcohol ban for 'racist' emails

SUSU’s disciplinary committee has today revealed the full punishment of Southampton University Men’s Hockey Club, following revelations of club emails which were branded ‘racist’ by students.   The hearing was […]


SUSU’s disciplinary committee has today revealed the full punishment of Southampton University Men’s Hockey Club, following revelations of club emails which were branded ‘racist’ by students.

 

The hearing was held on May 7th with Union President David Mendoza-Wolfson presenting the complaint on behalf of the Student Union. SUMHC admitted the charge, and were found guilty by the committee.

SUSU’s statement today confirmed that SUMHC are to “publicly apologise, undergo equality and diversity training and pay a fine”, referring to the incident as “unacceptable and offensive”.

The compulsory diversity training will be required for all members for the next two academic years.

The club have been ordered to pay a £500 fine to SUSU, which will be donated to RAG. They are also now required to run all club emails through the Union’s mass email system, meaning their communications will be more closely monitored by SUSU.

The Union’s disciplinary committee also took the step of banning the club from holding “any socials in The Stag’s until Christmas”.

A club email sent out last night referred to this measure as a ban on “alcohol-based socials in Union facilities”, suggesting that club has been pushed off campus altogether.

The email goes on to ask members to “donate your pint” towards the fine, as the club is “cutting it thin with finances this year … [and we] don’t want to pass on our mistakes to the Wessex Knights to be”.

They clarified that the donation is “completely optional”.

SUMHC have declined to comment to the Soton Tab on the outcome of the disciplinary.

Katie Lightowler, Vice-President Sports Development, said:

The email the Club sent out was a very disappointing read. This decision sends out a clear message that abuse of any kind, whether it is racist, homophobic, sexist or any other form, simply isn’t welcome in our sports clubs or the Student’s Union as a whole.

We want our sports clubs and societies to be a welcoming and fun environment from students from every background – and we know you can do this without also offending students. We’re not trying to stop clubs having fun on nights out, but to send out official club emails with these sort of comments absolutely crossed that line.

We look forward to working with Men’s Hockey Club next year on #SotonSpeakUp, and following several requests, the Union will be working with Clubs to put out guidance on what’s ok and what’s not ok for socials.

What do you think of this outcome? Strong enough action on discrimination from SUSU? Let us know in the comments!